The KingThe QueenChaokhun Phra Sineenatha Bilasakalyani The Queen Mother Sirikit[a][1] (born Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara[b]; 12 August 1932) is a member of the Thai royal family who was Queen of Thailand from 28 April 1950 to 13 October 2016 as the wife of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX).

Sirikit was appointed queen regent in 1956, when the king entered the Buddhist monkhood for a period of time.

[2] She had three siblings, two elder brothers and a younger sister: Sirikit was raised by her maternal grandparents for a year after her birth, since her father was in the United States to work as the secretary of the Siamese Embassy at Washington, D.C.

[5][6] In 1946, with the war now over, her father moved to the United Kingdom as the ambassador to the Court of St James's, taking his family with him.

On 4 October 1948, while Bhumibol was driving a Fiat Topolino on the Geneva-Lausanne road, he collided into the rear of a braking truck 10 km outside of Lausanne.

When the king undertook the traditional period as a Buddhist monk in 1956, Queen Sirikit acted as regent.

[citation needed] At dawn on 21 July 2012, Queen Sirikit felt unsteady and staggered while exercising at Siriraj Hospital, where King Bhumibol Adulyadej resided.

After performing magnetic resonance imaging, a team of physicians determined that she had suffered an ischemic stroke.

[9] The queen was treated and has refrained from public appearances since, including the grand audience granted by her husband on his 85th birthday from the Ananta Samakhom Hall on 5 December 2012.

[10] On 29 November 2016, the palace announced that the queen had been discharged from the hospital and has returned to the Chitralada Royal Villa due to her recovery.

[citation needed] The queen has a strong bond with southern Thailand, and she formerly spent months in the Muslim-majority provinces every year.

The songs she composed were: In 1976, the Thai government honored the queen by declaring her birthday a national holiday.

[13] Queen Sirikit is well known for her charitable work, where she is the honorary president of the Thai Red Cross, a post she has held since 1956.